Lupus Rising
by Darius Blake
Summary: "What did this to you?" the Doctor asked. The man looked back at him with a crooked grin, "Who do ya think, ya dingus. Same enemy we've been fightin' for months. The Lupan." A first adventure for my 13th doctor. The Doctor finds himself in a Base on Vulpana, that has taken to mining silver to fight off the natives. Can the Doctor broker a truce between the two sides? Please Review.
1. Chapter 1

**_Vulpana, the Loupeire System, 2195 ESC (Earth Standard Calendar)_**

* * *

Deep in the pits, a wheezing noise reverberated through the bowels of the mining craft. Slowly, agonizingly, a blue box forced its way into existence. The doctor stuck his head out of the door.  
"Don't suppose there's much point in asking why I'm here? Or even where exactly here is?" he asked aloud.  
The Tardis gave no response, which he took as agreement.

"Fine" He scowled, lower jaw jutting out in sullen displeasure. "I'll play your game for now, but if this turns out to be another pointless stop…" he let the statement hang, before surveying his surroundings.

"Metal gantries, pipes on all sides, I'm guessing engine room?" More silence. "Wait… No, those aren't engine pipes. They're pumps. So... So this is a mining vessel. But what are they mining? There's dust accumulating, but it's not due to time, it's all too fresh. So, mining something that is rather difficult to refine, lots of waste…"  
He stooped and picked up a handful of the dust, sniffed at it and pulled a sour face. "Argentyle, a by-product of Triphase silver. Which means…" He pivoted on his heel. "Which means you need an awful lot of weapons grade silver. Now what could you want all that for?" He stopped when his brain finished processing the image it was getting from his eyes. The woman in front of him was pointing a rather powerful looking gun at his face which, in his experience, was never a good sign. He smiled. Wonderful.

"How did you get on-board?"

"Answer my question, darling. Then maybe, if you're a good girl, I'll tell you." He gave her a condescending smirk, grinning at her down the barrel of her own gun.

"I'm not going to answer to some trespassing freak." She snarled

"… But I asked first."

"What?"

He cocked his head to one side. "I'm sorry love, I didn't realize you were hard of hearing." He cleared his throat and repeated. "I. Asked. First. So. Please. Could. You. Answer. Me. Before. I. Answer. You... Thanks."

She stared hard at the man before her. He was a young man. Tall, with fair skin and a shaggy mop of black hair and a scruffy half beard. There was a pair of old welding goggles hung around his neck and a pair of black combat boots on his feet, their steel toecaps clinking as he danced from foot to foot. A long black leather coat that put her in mind of an ancient sci-fi her brothers had loved when they were younger, layered over a dark grey hoodie and black skinny jeans with patches on the knees.

"Who are you?"

"You've still not answered my question, but I'm the Doctor." His voice was a mess of accents she couldn't quite follow. And his eyes were balls of jade fire, burning right to her heart and soul.

"A doctor? Like an actual, proper doctor? Did you come because of the signal?"

"Why, who's hurt." His face softened a touch.

He was dragged through the corridors of pipes and pumps into a brightly lit room. There, slouched in a chair, was an old man. He was clutching a bloodied bandage to a large gash along his left side. He eyed the Doctor suspiciously.

"He don't look like no medic."

The young woman rolled her eyes, "Grandpa, please. He came to help."

"Yes, exactly, I'm the Doctor, here to help. What exactly did this to you?"

"Who do ya think, ya dingus. Same enemy we've been fightin' for months. The Lupan."


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm sorry, This may seem a bit of an odd question, but... The who-now?"

"The Lupan. We've been at war with the bastards for months. How can you not know them?"

"Yeah well, I'm not from 'round here." The doctor said, a smirk flickering across his face. "Speaking of... Where exactly **_is_** here? The gravity is about... 90% Earth gravity? Yeah that sounds about right, so... where am I?"

"Really? Come on, mate. You can't seriously not know what planet you're on, right?"

"It actually happens a lot more often than you'd think." the doctor deadpanned, not looking up from the man's wound. He fished around in his pocket, pulling out a candle, three mobile telephones and a battered leather wallet before arriving at the object he was looking for. It was a gunmetal black rod, about 8 inches long and capped of at one end by three bulb tipped claws of the same black metal. It hummed gently as the doctor scanned the wound, the claws spinning slowly. The doctor stopped, held the device up and stared at it for a few minutes before standing.

"Ok, good news! The wound is not infected and there's no organ damage." he said with a grin.

The man raised an eyebrow, "An' what' the bad news?"

"Does there have to be bad news? Why is there this necessity for there to be something wrong? Do people just love to assume there's is a problem?"

"Is there?"

"... Maybe... probably... Ok, Yes, there is. The blood isn't clotting. If you don't get that sorted out, you're going to bleed out." The doctor groaned.

He bounced on his heals and strolled over to the window, and cleared his throat. "Aha! The Loupeire System, in the 22nd century. Humankind out amongst the stars. Now, if memory serves, the only human out post in the early 22nd century is... is..." He tailed off. He continued in barely a whisper, "It's Vulpana. I knew a girl from here once, lovely young lady... tried to rip my throat out... can't win them all, I suppose."

He spun to face the injured man, his black coat flaring behind him.

"So... you are at war with the locals? Is this why you got all this Triphase silver refinement going on? Because it seems like this base wasn't really built for the the job. The refiners are cobbled together from spare parts."

A sullen quiet settled.


	3. Chapter 3

The young woman spoke first. "They initiated the first battle. We are acting in self defense. They can't cross the silver veins this colony is built on, so we're safe in the base, but we need armaments as a backup."

The doctor stared at her, his face deadly serious. His green eyes were doing that same thing they had been doing when she first found him. They seemed to flare with jade fire and an intensity she thought would look more at home in the eyes of a wild animal. Then he spoke, a soft dangerous voice that seemed far older than the young man glaring at her, "What's your name, love?"

"A-Anya. Anya Steele." all her bravado drained away as he spoke. This man was dangerous.

"Well then, Anya Steele, tell me this; How many people in this base?" The edge to his voice left her cold and shaking, but compelled her to answer.

"At th-the moment, ah, s-seventy two... the other three died." He voice wavered slightly.

"What about the enemy? How many of these Lupan are there?"

She swallowed "Th-they seem to be the dominant species, b-but we have only had altercations with a small number of them, only around 29 adults."

"I'm gonna guess you'd already set up and started when they got here? Maybe they just came over the hills one day, completely unannounced?" he asked. Anya nodded, feeling the pieces slot into place as he spoke. "It's a wild stab in the dark, but would I be right in assuming they aren't using weapons? Maybe even their young with them? So, Unarmed, disorganized and, if they're willing to attack your old man here, desperate. What does that tell you?

"They're not an army... they are just as scared as us."

"Atta girl," The doctor cracked a wry smile again, turning to the old man, "Your granddaughter is good. Really good. You Should be proud. Keep putting the pressure on that wound, Mr Steele, we'll be back before you know it." He turned to Anya, "So, this many people on one ship, where's the med-bay? Infirmary? Hell, even a cupboard with a couple of bandages would do."

"Floor 7, Second door on your left from the staircase. The last medic was killed by one of the Lupan when he was out gathering samples, but there should still be a few first-aid kits."

"I'm sorry, did you say something about Samples?"

"He was also head scientist."

"Ah... Well, lead the way, Anya...I have a patient to treat."


	4. Chapter 4

"So... This head-scientist... What was his name?" the Doctor asked, staring into the specimen jars on the former medic's desk, screwdriver buzzing away.

"Dr Shamus O'Connor. He had this thick head of red hair and the broadest Cork accent you've ever heard. He..." She laughed and continued picking up bandages and padding, remembering the way he would work himself into a frenzy whenever he had even the smallest task left unresolved, "He used to get all worked up about the littlest things, y'know? And it looked like his head caught fire because of his hair bouncing all over the place."

"He was important to you wasn't he?" the Doctor was grinning ear to ear as he put down the jar he'd been sonicing. The Plant in the bottle seemed to sag with relief

Anya flushed and looked away, "He was important to everyone, like I said; Medic, Head-scientist and Leader of the whole expedition... We're lost without him."

The Doctor filed that away for future reference, before resuming the initial line of questioning,"Yeah. But _you_ liked him, right? Did he mean something more than all of that to _you?_ "

"Yeah. Yeah, he did."

"Well then, in his name I promise you this. I will bring peace between both you and the Lupan, I will end this war and I will ensure that the peace holds. No More pointless bloodshed. But first, We've got to help your Grandpa."

* * *

Mr Steele sat in place as the Doctor cleaned and dressed the wound, ensuring the padding put enough pressure on to stop the bleeding for the time being. The sonic flared and the Doctor glanced down at it. "Aha! Found your problem! You've got some traces of Argentyle in your blood. Never liked that stuff, acts as a blood thinner. Worst part of the whole Tri-phase silver operation.

* * *

The Lupan Alpha paced. He could feel it. There was a Storm coming. A Maelstrom of change that would shift the battle one way or the other. He rounded on the Figure bound to the tree behind him. Another Lupan, reddish furred and dressed in the rags of a lab-coat and jeans.

The Alpha Snarled at this Whelp. A runt if ever he saw one. Stupid Halfclaw was almost worthy of his pity, were it not for where he came from.


	5. Chapter 5

The Doctor paced back down the corridor to the Tardis, Scooping up a handful of argentyle dust as he walked. "Awful stuff. Smells like burning batteries and is slightly acidic as well as a blood thinner. The worst by product of this whole industry."

"Doctor, wait!" Anya called after him.

"Yes?"

"Where are you going?" She asked, fearing the answer. "Not out... there, Right?"

"Yep. Someone's got to deal with your wildlife problem. I guess that's gotta be me."

Anya fixed him with a confused stare, "Are you completely mental?"

The Doctor looked her dead in the eye and, with a dejected shrug, he turned and continued walking. "I don't know, Maybe? Maybe I **_am_** insane. But Someone has to be. Because if everyone was perfectly sane, no one would do anything. So, I'm going out there to the edge of the silver vein, to see what these Lupan have to say for themselves. Because I don't take kindly to people going after humans. This colony still has like 200 years left, I can't let it die here." He opened the door and strode in side, before sticking his head out again. "Oh, and make sure your old man doesn't do anything daft. Try to get some dairy and a bit of red meat in him, that should help the blood clot. He's going to want to keep the pressure on as well, while he heals. Good luck." And, with that he disappeared back into his little blue box, which in turn vanished from the corridor with a wheezing groan.

* * *

The Alpha scented the air. The Storm was coming to pass reckoning on them all. It was approaching and it was angry. He motioned to a young female, _Bring the Halfclaw. We must meet with this Storm, and we shall not yield._

The Runt in question snarled as he was brought before the Alpha. _I will not serve you. I may be a monster now, but I still have my pride._

The Alpha gave a odd huffing noise, the canine equivalent of laughter. _You have Spirit, Halfclaw. I shall enjoy watching it break. I wonder if there was anyone in your old pack you couldn't bear to lose...  
_


	6. Chapter 6

The Alpha stood at the edge of the Pack's latest camp. He felt the Storm vanish from his mind for a second, then it flared back into life as, with a rumbling groan, a Box appeared. _Brothers! The Storm has arrived. And he Shall Fall, as all other weak, hairless Apes have before._

* * *

The Doctor emerged from the Tardis, goggles on and hood up. His lips were set in a thin scowl. He stared at the pack from behind tinted lenses.

"You," he pointed at the hulking wolfman leering at him from the head of the pack, "You the leader then?"

* * *

The Alpha frowned. The Storm was not like the other Apes. His lips moved with the words of their tongue, but they arrived at His ears with the Voice of a Brother. An Ape who Spoke as one of the Pack... _You are a very Strange Ape, Storm. What is Your Purpose? Have you come to Surrender on be half of your fellow Invaders?_

"NEVER." the Storm's voice was low and angry.

 _I see. Then your vile people die here._

"How do you plan on achieving that one then?"

 _I will persevere as long as it takes. We will Starve them out. The Apemen **WILL** Die._

 _WHY?_ Another voice Yelled. The Halfclaw had broken the bonds which held him and lunged forth, Howling like a wild beast. _WHY DO YOU HATE THEM SO MUCH?_

 _They are invaders. They take the Earthvenom, Shape weapons that burn and kill anything that moves. How are they not the enemy?_

"Because they're not invaders. They are Travelers in search of wealth. Their home lies in ashes and their people scattered among the stars. And I watch over them. They're not perfect, perhaps a little easily startled and way to happy to go for their weapons when push comes to shove. But they are not your enemy. They are Terrified of You. To them, YOU are the monsters."

 ** _LIES!_** _Why would a race that is so powerful, that comes from beyond the stars, Fear us? You think your colourful words can hide your treachery? Brothers, seize the Storm! Take him and the Halfclaw back to the clearing._ He eyed the Blue box the Storm had emerged from. _Bring his Box too..._


	7. Chapter 7

The clearing was silent for a few minutes. The Doctor swayed from the ropes tying him between two trees before he spoke up, "So... What's your name."

 _No name. That life is gone. Soon this one will be too...  
_

"Fine. Who _were_ you? A scientist in the Pack? That seems a little off."

 _Human, once... a long time ago. Part of the Crew that came here. I was their Leader._

The Doctor stared. "You're Shamus O'Connor, right? I'm the Doctor. Your friends back at base will be so happy to see you're alive." He grinned widely.

The Lupan bound opposite him looked up, a sad look in his amber eyes. _Not now. I'm not him anymore, I'm one of them... I'm a monster._

"No," the Doctor's voice was more forceful than he had intended. Softly, he repeated himself, "No. You are no monster. A monster is not in body but in action. Believe me... I've been far more of a monster than you. I have been the creature that whole races fear. I did things that would make worlds burn... And then I stopped. I went back to trying to fix things. If you want to prove you're not a monster... then make things right again. Be something better."

 _They robbed me of my humanity, Doctor. And now their leader wishes to cut us open where we stand._

"Ah..." the Doctor frowned, shrugged as best he could when suspended by his arms and dropped the few inches to the floor, massaging his wrists. "Well then, good thing they haven't mastered complex knotwork yet." He set about freeing Shamus from his own bindings. "Well Shamus, Time to run for your life."

* * *

The Alpha stalked back into the clearing. They had been unable to move the box, rested as it was on top of the Earthvenom. No matter, the Storm was restrained. Those apes would see their champion Fall.

* * *

Hello.

It's me, The Author.

Hi.

Look, I know that You people are busy with your lives; Feed the cat, Cook dinner, Go to work, ect.

But it would be nice to receive some feedback.

More than nice, actually.

Reviews are really helpful and, If you want to suggest things or ask questions, I'd be willing to oblige.


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